Atlas (Print) ISSN 2056-5836
Atlas (Online) ISSN 2056-5844
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Our front cover for this issue a bit
unconventional, but the moment we saw the
shot, we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop smiling. It was bright,
colourful, and oh so happy. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exactly
what we want Atlas to make people feel! We
hope you like it as much as we do. We hope
you get as much inspiration out of this issue
as we did.
Keep smiling.
Love,
Olivia Bossert & Megan Breukelman

9

ARTICLE

INTERVIEW BY Olivia Bossert

Neo Dia was
brought to our
attention
by
their lovely PR
Agency, The PR
Department. Based
in Sydney, Australia, you can’t help but stare at the incredible talent that Zoe, the head of
the business, represents. Neo Dia stood out from them all, and we wanted to know more
about their incredible journey as a brand.

Q. Tell us about Neo Dia, and how it all
began?
A. Gavin: We both studied fashion together
at RMIT and then decided to collaborate
on a project once we had graduated. From
there, the label just grew organically. We
received a lot of international press for our
first project collection, particularly through
Europe culminating in a feature with Vogue
Italia, and then we had to make a decision
whether to keep going or to get jobs in the
industry. We did both!
Q. Can you tell us about the name of your
brand?
A. Gavin: We knew that we didn’t want to
use our names as so many designers do. We
wanted to just work in the background of
the label and for it to be it’s own entity.
We did know that we wanted the name to
reference the aesthetic and the core belief
of the brand, then we mashed together Neo
Dia - Neo from Neoteric (new, modern,
new ideas) and Dia from Diametric (line or
shape) . Neo Dia for us was an interpretation
of New Line and New Shape.

10 Atlas Magazine

Q. You are described as creating both soft and
strong clothes, combined together. Do you agree
with that statement?
A. Gavin: Definitely, the core of what we create
is a juxtoposition of dualities and playing with
a balance of the female energy; whether it is
masculine or powerful, or sensual or soft, each
collection explores a new aspect of this. What
we want our clothes to do is to empower women.
Q. What was the inspiration behind your current
collection?
A. Gavin: our first thought was that we wanted
a softer collection, we wanted it to be a bit more
organic but still quite moody and sensual. We
were looking at dark images of the ocean, very
strong with surging swells and we wanted to
capture this through the collection. We have
literal references, like the net dresses and then
the crushed organza but then the strong suiting
and power dressing elements bring through the
strength and power of our woman and our early
inspirations.
Q. What is your main inspiration for your
clothing?

...what we create is a juxtoposition
of dualities and playing with a
balance of the female energy...

A. Gavin : a collection always starts with the energy
and mood that we want to create. From there we
work in our other inspirations, techniques and
shapes and fabrics and then the collection begins
to take form. But we always ask what each look is
saying, how does it make you feel and what is the
energy.
Q. Who do you design your clothes to be worn by?

Q. What ambitions do you have for your brand?
A. Gavin: we are launching the brand
internationally with Summer 15/16 and also
launching our e-commerce site in the coming
months. We are really focused on growing our
stockist base and growing the business. We have
dreams of filling amazing wardrobes of amazing
women!

I spend a lot of
my time trying
to be cool.
Don’t you?
I’ve been lucky in that the people I
think are cool (read: the people I try
to be like) are often genuinely cool. I
have good taste in idols.
In high school it was a beautiful,
rebellious brunette who liked oldschool bad boys, designer jeans, and
Chanel lip-gloss.
In college it was a depressive intellectual
who dressed like an early Godard
heroine. She dated grossly inferior men
and pined after famous artists, most of
whom she’d actually met.
The year I dropped out of college it
was Paz de la Huerta.

The year I went
back to college
it was a local
scenester with
Betty
Page
bangs and a wardrobe of pilled
Acne sweaters and Rachel Comey
clogs.
I’ve always been acutely aware
of
other
people’s
coolness.
Fashionable girls’ frequencies come
in crystal clear, but my personal
station always sounded like static. I
was like a bat, only able to navigate
around other people’s charisma,
bouncing sonar off the brands they
liked and the books they read.
Remember, bats are blind.
Soon I’d assembled a wardrobe that
looked like a costume department,
and the self-confidence to match.

...only able to navigate around
other people’s charisma, bouncing
sonar off the brands they liked and
the books they read.

44 Atlas Magazine

I was friends with lovely, desirable
women. I hung on to their inclinations
and gestures like a creepy collector,
trying to assemble a Franken-self that
would seem like the best parts of
two continents and 22 years worth of
influences rolled together. All I got was
really, really confused.
I know, I know, I’m young and I’m
trying to “find myself.”
But it’s more important than that; I’m
trying to find how myself dresses.
I always felt a little off when I was
dressing “well.” I was doing everything
right: right brands, right level of
dishevelment, right makeup to nailcare ratio. I was doing everything
right, someone else’s right. A very cool
person’s right.

So, I tuned out the noise.
I won’t be a bat again. I’m a magpie
now.
Every time I buy something, I think, do
I really want this object? This specific,
tangible thing? Not the chatter that
surrounds it, the label, the hype, the
cache, but the thing itself.
Do I want it because someone I admire
has it?
Or do I want it because it makes my
heart sing?
That’s the only noise I listen to now,
and I’m looking gooooood.